Conventional tow winding produces packages where individual strands within the tow are of unequal length. As a result, in downstream or subsequent operations some ends sag, forming a catenary which is detrimental in many end use applications. Moreover, when winding high tenacity flat tow yarns, i.e., yarns which have no elongation or stretch, if each yarn strand is not of the exact same length, only the shortest strand will be effective in building the tow yarn package. Accordingly, individual tow yarns will wind onto the tow package with different characteristics such as length and tension, creating a package having strands with non-uniform tension and length, again a characteristic which is detrimental in many end use applications.
Accordingly, there has been a need for an apparatus and method permitting the simultaneous winding of tow yarn where each tow strand is of the exact same length and is on the package with the exact same characteristics.